I’m in charge of coming up with the gift for my husband’s coworkers, and there are 16 of them so I have to get creative in terms of time and costs. This year I went with the popcorn and a movie themed basket, but I tried to spice it up a bit.
I started with the tub. I got this one from Gourmac for $6.99. I liked the size and they marketed it as “big enough for the whole family” and it is. It comes in both yellow and red, and there is plenty of room to fill it with goodies. There is a nice one at Crate & Barrel as well, but it’s a little smaller.
I also liked that it has the removable bottom insert to catch the popcorn kernels. I had to get a crown after cracking my tooth on one of those so I’m all about avoiding the kernels.
Now, what to fill it with…
- Popcorn kernels ($3.99 at Target)
- Paper bags to pop the popcorn (I included 5)
- Seasoning ($1.99 at Target)
- Movie theatre gift card
- Homemade candied popcorn (recipe below)
- Recipes for “gourmet” popcorn ideas
For the seasonings, I used white cheddar, but Target also has butter and nacho cheese flavored.
I went with a $10 gift card and used scrapbook tape to attach it to a card with a snowman sticker I got at Target.
Vanilla candied popcorn (keep reading for the recipe).
I got the popcorn bags at Hobby Lobby for 50 percent off since they are “holiday”.
For the candied popcorn, I filled my brown bag with a little under 1/2 cup of popcorn (every time I did exactly a 1/2 it popped out of the bag) and microwaved it for 2 1/2 minutes or until I heard it stop popping.
I like making popcorn this way because it doesn’t have all of the extra ingredients in the regular microwaveable popcorn. We got this idea from one of John’s coworkers.
I used the Christmas Popcorn recipe from Easie Peasie, except I used vanilla flavored candy wafers instead of the white chocolate. Nothing against white chocolate (I love it) – I just prefer working with the candy wafers because they are a little smoother, and that’s the flavor I had in the pantry.
I also put mine in a large tupperware bowl so I could shake rather than stir it.
I used red, green and white sprinkles.
I did work well to put it on a cookie sheet at the end. I wasn’t cooling very fast in the bowl.
I really liked the popcorn and thought it could be a gift on its own for neighbors or friends.
Then I filled the tub with all the goodies. I like to use some regular packing paper in the bottom rather than fill the whole thing with fancy filler. The fancy filler is thrown away anyway, so why waste it?
This is my favorite basket bag from Container Store (I get so excited in that store), but I went with a regular clear roll this year because I used this one last year. Gotta mix it up, because I’m sure they remember what I used last year.
I probably should have taken a picture before I put the wrap on, but I’m sure you get the idea.
It’s been a fun 12 days talking about homemade holiday gifts! Thank you for joining me! I would love to see your homemade gifts as well so feel free to post pictures in the “comments” section or on my FB page. Happy Holidays!
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